Oxfam reaction to IPC report confirming famine in Gaza Governorate
Reacting to the Integrated Food Security Classification (IPC) report published today confirming a famine in Gaza Governorate which is predicted to expand to Deir Al Balah and Khan Younis by the end of September, Oxfam’s Food Security and Livelihoods Coordinator, Mahmoud Alsaqqa said:
“The famine in Gaza is entirely driven by Israel’s near-total blockade of food and vital aid — the horrifying consequence of Israel’s violence and its use of starvation as a weapon of war. This is what our staff and partners have been witnessing for months: people in the Gaza Strip being deliberately starved, relentlessly bombarded, and forcibly displaced — all part of Israel’s genocide.
“Mothers are now too malnourished to nurse their starving babies. People are forced to walk miles across treacherous terrain in search of food, only to be shot at militarized distribution centers. The elderly, under fire and too weak to flee, illustrate the collapse of the humanitarian system and repeated crimes against humanity.
“Despite warnings in July that famine was imminent, Israel has continued to starve Palestinians, denying nearly every request from humanitarian agencies operating in Gaza, preventing them from delivering food and medical supplies that could have stemmed hunger, malnutrition and disease. Oxfam alone has more than $2.5 million worth of life-saving aid, including high-calorie food packages, now sitting in warehouses outside Gaza— blocked at a time when it is needed most.
“The Government of Israel continues its campaign of relentless bombing and its policy of starving people in areas already classified as facing famine, while pressing ahead with plans to forcibly displace the entire population of Gaza City.
“Other governments that could have done more to stop Israel are complicit in enabling genocide and war crimes through their silence, inaction, and continued supply of arms.
“This famine can be halted. Oxfam calls for an immediate ceasefire, the full lifting of the blockade, and the immediate delivery of large-scale humanitarian aid through all crossings, including those in the north.”
Notes to editors
- Read the IPC’s Special Snapshot on Gaza published today.
- The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) is an innovative multi-partner initiative of 19 organisations, including Oxfam, and intergovernmental institutions. The IPC initiative provides food security and nutrition analysis to inform decision-making.
- Read how famine is measured.
- This IPC assessment was done between 1 and 30 July. The figures are likely an underestimate of the situation now.
- According to the UN (20 Aug), malnutrition has tripled across the Gaza Strip since the ceasefire collapsed. And in Gaza City, acute malnutrition has now reached 28.5 per cent, meaning more than one in four children in Gaza City is now considered malnourished.
- https://press.un.org/en/2025/db250820.doc.html
- Starvation as a weapon of war being used against Gaza civilians, Oxfam press release, 25 October 2023.
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